Crewe to Preston line overview Was watching this video and it does seem like it's very extensive sidings for a lot more than the A-B experience. Deep sidings, more industry specific, lots of alternate routes, improved signaling, it seems to be a lot more complex than what we currently have in game. It all remains to be seen what we get on release, but if this is accurate it appears it'll have a lot more than just the normal commuter runs. There will be a fairly detailed industrial side of things with various things to do putter around on the sidings with. Yes, it seems mostly focused on the coal industry, but that would be accurate and there might be some new animations and industrial legs with some shunting required like on the older TSW routes that I haven't seen recently.
Don't forget the large marshalling yard at Basford Hall and the smaller one at Warrington, got to build up or break down those Speedlink consists before/after their trip so yes, more than just coal but coal will surely be a big part of this one. WCML-Shap seemed to test the water (almost) of the timetables handling multiple services being tied-on/off at mostly Preston and Carlisle, and personally I have found those to be just as much fun as a high speed run.
It's a specific feature that hasn't been discussed in depth before. Since it's not been brought up before, it is a new topic.
But it's part of the discussion about the route. Creating lots of tiny topics like this makes it hard to keep track of info (which isn't even new - the mention of running the MGA trains is in the JT press release).
Yes, it looks potentially more interesting than WCMLOS, which, frankly, compared to Blackpool's variety is a rather dull A-B run. An occasional 101 jaunt to the seaside doesn't really change that.
WCML over Shap though, combines beautiful scenery in the Lake District with quite a regular stopping pattern, particularly with the Cross Country 86 services, i've yet to do a run that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed, I quite like the Train Sim Classic version, but this is something else (which is how I suspect I will feel with the Riviera route)
Yeah, I really enjoyed Blackpool Branches and played it a lot but did lose interest in it, it got very repetitive, very little freight and most passenger runs were just clockface workings, that's not a slight on the route or the devs, it's just how it seemed to be. Shap on the other hand has a good mix, there are freight workings (hopefully more once the 86/4 arrives) as well as local, semi-fast and express passenger workings as well as a myriad of shunting jobs be it with the Gronk or just shunting locos onto/off stock during swaps, fun for the whole family as they say (unless you what TT but he can LOVE* off).
Not really many freight workings no, and it was very A-B. Blackpool at least I suppose had two routes around the city... but this new route seems to be potentially far better than either of the existing ones.
Well, when it comes to creating variety, I wouldn't regard a regular stopping pattern as a plus; and while there is freight, in practice through freight doesn't much differ from express passenger except it goes slower.
Yup. If you're not doing the pickups, drop offs and shunting then it's like doing a commuter route without stopping for passengers.
I wouldn't read too much into the masses of sidings until we know a bit more about the route. As anyone who owns Spirit of Steam knows, you can have a route with miles and miles of sidings as far as the eye can see, and only actually travel onto about 30% of the trackwork without seeing the dreaded "you have reached the end of the represented area" message (often followed by a "service failure" message if you fail to hit the brakes in the few seconds you get after the message pops up...)
The difference is the fact this addon is getting made by a team who actually knows what they are doing and the fact spirt of steam was made in tsw 2 doesn’t help
Just Trains has however said that the route, quote, "includes [...] a multitude of branches which will allow you to explore a number of lesser-known areas" and that you can "[t]ackle the challenge of running Merry-Go-Round Coal trains from both Bickershaw and Parkside collieries to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station". Would be a bit weird if we then couldn't actually go to these collieries and the power station.
Yeah, I'm hoping that's the case. Although they also created most if not all of Morecambe on WCMLOS, then made it unusable. You can run down it and there's a lot there, but it's not "usable" for some reason. The fact that they created a new variant of the 20 just for the coal routes though seems to indicate they'll be making plenty for it to do.
Definitely, a more freight orientated map focussing on branch lines relating to coal operations. A shorter route but plenty to do, and an 86 for me without having to buy the dlc!
Really looking forward to this one. I prefer the old industrial style routes, as mentioned, a to b passenger and freight runs can get rather boring, especially if the freight runs don't start or end anywhere but on the mainline. Lots of branches another bonus. 40 odd miles is a bit short for my taste but all the branches make it interesting, plenty to explore. Hopefully Jt brings back freight loading and unloading, well saying that, they wouldn't add slow speed controls if they wasn't. I had almost given up with tsw I'm thankful to JT for making it interesting again.
That's why I think we'll see more action on those branch lines...because the mainline is so short they have plenty of space and resources to have more action on that maybe 40 miles of branchlines. I'm guessing that's what happened to WCMLOS...it was just too long on the mainline for there to be much room left for branches. Just a guess though, I don't know anyone on the JT team. But, speaking of "industrial" that's kind of the situation on Oakville where the actual mainline is only maybe 30 miles, but there's a ton of side shunting area that adds up.
This also provides further endorsement for the class 56 to be included. At risk of sounding like a broken record, I’m a little disappointed it’s not going to be part of the release. I do remain optimistic we’ll see it at some stage, however.
Was the Class 56 used on the coal runs featured in the route? I'm guessing it would have been seen on the mainline up and down the WCML. Beyond that, I only know what's on wikipedia about them. It'd be nice to have a little more variety. I'm guessing JT will have something to release as a DLC add on for the route. Fingers crossed?
Yeah I like Oakville. I don't mind that, short stretch of mainline with plenty of branch lines and yards. Sometimes it's nice to potter about making consists or a short run up the mainline to the next yard with some produce. I quite like some of the scenic branches in USA. I'm surprised dtg haven't done any. I'm only going by what I've seen a read but some of the branches are quite long and don't seem to have mainstream Operators running them. Or never used to.
They never said Morecambe would be accessible though, did they? I'm very confident that the route will have everything that they say it has.
Well they said Morecambe yes, and it does go to Morecambe (the first stop) but there's a whole branch that goes from there a few miles to the harbor that they created then.... didn't use. Kinda sad because on the map it looks nice and I think it connects to a ferry or something. Would have been a nice addition. I get if it wasn't "time accurate" maybe? (Dunno maybe they didn't use that bit back in 1986?) But then...why go to the effort of laying the tracks in the first place? Agreed. The fact that they specified the coal routes, the Class 20 upgrade and the hoppers means they should go into some detail using them.
The Heysham branch wasn't included as accessible since there were no passenger services in that particular era, freight trains were basically limited to nuclear and acid runs to to/from the nuclear power station but those freight wagons didn't exist yet for the game. The 56 would be a great addition however it is worth noting that in 1986 it was not actually that common in this area, the Bickershaw coal workings were pairs of 20s top & tailed (it was quite a gradient) and a lot of Fiddlers Ferry workings were either the afore mentioned 20s or if it was longer distance, 47/3s. Both 56s and 58s did visit but not in great numbers, a few years later the 56s settled in nicely around the same time as the 20s started to get replaced by top and tailed 60s.
A US short line RR would be a good route to produce, retro with high hoods servicing industries along the line, sort of like Railroader, that would be a lot of fun. Also a small private RR might be easier to get licenses for.
I see your point. When JT released Preston - Carlisle, the class 40 was included as a layer for ai services despite not being around during that period. This is very different as the 56’s were present in 1986. Honestly, I would’nt mind if they rarely showed up as ai, I just want the opportunity to run fully loaded HAA’s for absolute hellfire!
I support that idea with the cavetat that very few run "high hoods" now or in the dates the existing routes are in game. Railroader works because it's set in the 1950s. Most locos were steam or high hoods. Ironically from what's been said in the "suggestion" threads on suggestions of small RRs in the USA, they're mostly out because it's much HARDER to get licenses for them. The vast majority are owned by a few large umbrella corporations and the rest are seen as too small or relatively "unwanted" by the player base. It would have to be a very special unique case to separate it from the pack. We're getting big commuter routes for the USA and not freight or smaller routes because that's what DTG thinks sells. I'm hoping that the Crewe to Preston would help change that perception since it's more "freight heavy" than anything else in the recent past, but we'll see how it is rolled out and how it sells. Fingers crossed it's a banger and DTG reconsiders more freight-focused routes and traction in the future.
I love WCMLOS and probably still my favourite UK route and right in my era. However I find myself playing it quite infrequently now as it requires a huge commitment to set to and finish a run. Once you start, you know it’s going to take two or even three play sessions to finish it. Part of that of course is down to our solitary save game slot, which means you can’t start a run on Shap, save it, go off and do something else which you might also need to save then come back to finish your Shap run a day or two later.
I know the 20 we’re getting in the Cargo Line 5 nuclear isn’t period appropriate for Heysham runs but I do wonder if since a period appropriate 20 IS coming with Preston-Crewe and nuclear flask wagons WILL exist with Cargo 5, maybe Heysham might eventually get “unlocked”…
